Push for greater participation in Bhumi Pujan for Ram Temple

The event will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

 

New Delhi(Agencies): The issue of what should be the ideal number of participants allowed to take part in the August 5 ‘Bhumi Pujan’ ceremony for the construction of the Ram temple, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has become a subject of high-wattage debate in the “Saffron Parivar”.

The push for increasing the number of participants for the ceremony is being made by constituents of organisations associated with Hindu faith, and the constituents of the “Sangh Parivar”.

On the other hand, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), which has been in the vanguard of the movement for the temple construction, has decided to mount a campaign for virtual participation in the ceremony by the public across the country.

The proceedings of the ceremony will be beamed live on TV through satellite.

Sources in the know about events surrounding Ram temple construction said that pressure is being put on authorities including the Sri Ram Temple Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust “to arrange for public greater participation in the ceremony”.

The trust was constituted by the Centre with regard construction of the temple and management of its affairs.

The authorities are credited with a strong view favouring restriction on the total number of attendees to 150 in all, including about 60 VVIPs given social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The following of the social distancing norms added significance given Modi’s physical presence at the event.

Formal invitations to the prospective attendees have started rolling out.

However, keeping emotions of people in view, the authorities are mulling over the option of keeping open a margin for accommodating additional about 60 more attendees, in case push comes to shove.

Waters from holy rivers, the seas and oceans, and earth lumps from prominent pilgrimage sites have started reaching the construction sites. They will be kept in a “Kalash”( consecrated receptacle) which will be placed near the site during the ceremony.

The Kalash, as per the “Sanatan” Hindu theodicy, will bear witness to the invocation to the almighty and benign supernatural forces to cosmic invocation regarding the ceremony.

Earth chunks from the “Char Dhams”, Vaishno Devi Temple, Rameshwaram, and the Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna rivers for the Kalash are included for the Kalash.